After Her Son's Murder, A Chicago Mother Asks The Community To Speak Up And Speak Out Against Gun Violence
CHICAGO (CBS) -- CBS 2 is taking a closer look at one block of Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
It's a block of Peoria between 83rd and 84th, a community where people have had loved ones lose their lives to violence. An unsolved murder happened here, a mother lost her son.
CBS 2's Vince Gerasole talked to that mother, who's recently had to relive that trauma,
Jordan Grevious was shot and killed in the area. It's another one of those cases where detectives believe they could get somewhere in their investigation if someone would only come forward. Mounting violence on the same block where he died now has his mother speaking out.
On the 8300 block of South Peoria, life goes on, the same block where last September, a life was taken. Jordan Grevious was 23. He was dropping two friends off after a night out together when a car pulled alongside him and began shooting. Jordan was killed.
"It's the most devastating thing I've experienced in my life," said his mother Monique Greene. "He was my only child. It's heartbreaking having the police come to your home and you know as soon as you see them what they are getting ready to say to you."
Jordan had attended college, was working in a suburban plant and had no history of problems with the law.
"He was full of life," remembered Greene.
Authorities said he may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"He had the biggest heart. He would do anything for anybody and had an amazing love for family," Greene added.
On the same block of South Peroria, there have been two shootings and one armed robbery over the past year. A shooting of a 17-year-old last Tuesday.
"These murders and these shootings are occurring daily here in Chicago," Greene said. And that has her speaking up.
"People need to speak out," Greene said. " I understand people are in fear, but by us not saying something, to me, that allows these people to run rampant."
Detectives believe someone knows something that could move their search for Jordan's killers forward. It still won't bring a promising young life back, but his mother believes it's the right thing to do. Not just for his family, but for many others on Peoria Street and beyond.
"It's time we started taking our communities back and speaking out," Greene said. "And not allowing them to kill our children."
Jordan would have turned 24 on the 16th of this month. In this age of social distancing, his mother is organizing a balloon release from her home in Calumet City. Greene is encouraging friends, family and anyone concerned about the area's problems with gun violence to do the same from their own homes at 3:00 p.m. Not just for Jordan, but for everyone they love.